


Avoiding Conflict

by BaconKatz



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Alex’s dad is an ass, Angst, Fluff, Harvey is tactile, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Oh jesus, alex has a size kink, doctor harvey - Freeform, how do you tag??, uh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 04:08:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18307892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaconKatz/pseuds/BaconKatz
Summary: Alex is too proud to admit he hurt his arm, totally not to avoid the town doctor. Totally, he doesn’t like doctors, but he wouldn’t purposefully break into the clinic in the middle of the night to just avoid one. No, he’s just a prideful youth.





	Avoiding Conflict

Alex stared at his dark ceiling, cradling his arm to his chest as he did so. This was great, really was. He closed his eyes and blew out an annoyed huff of air, he had simply hoped the pain in his shoulder has been a little bruise or something. But now that he realized he couldn’t move his fingers anymore, he found the most likely case to be the fact that he popped it out of its socket. 

How? How did he even do that? It was an impact not like someone yanked on him really hard! Oh god what if he broke his shoulder plate? He’s broken his arm before sure, not his fault, his wrist too, but it wasn’t horrible. What if this was? What if he couldn’t play grindball anymore?

He shuddered at the mere thought. And shuddered again at what he would have to do. Voluntarily go to the doctor, for more than asking for wrappings, it a check up. He would have to get in close proximity to a doctor, a doctor. If there was one thing that creeped him out, it had to be doctors hands down. They were always the ones that were experimenting on patients and all that, and Alex didn’t want to be a victim of that.

He made an audible groaning noise, slapping his good hand over his mouth to stifle it as soon as he recognized his mistake. He waited in silence for a moment for something, the last thing he needed was his grandparents to walk in on him. Another moment of silence passed and he exhaled in relief, removing his hand from his mouth.

This is what he got for trying to impress- he couldn’t even remember who he was trying to impress- he was trying to impress someone. And of course, Sam knew that and purposefully threw that grindball as far away as possible, not only that but not even close to where Alex was standing. And Alex, determined to save his pride, did catch it, but ended up landing in the river for it. It might’ve been a softer landing if there was more water to cover the rocky bottom. 

Well on the bright side he had impressed whoever he was trying to impress- maybe Hailey?- but now it was one in the morning, and he had what could’ve been a broken or dislocated shoulder. The way he saw it he had two plausible options, let the wound fester until morning then suck up his pride and get it checked out, and then have his grandparents worry over him, and let everyone see he’s a weakling.

On the other hand he could just go out now, at one in the morning, break into the doctors office, and try to treat himself because all he actually needed was maybe a sling? That sounded about right, he’d sneak in, take the sling, and he wouldn’t even need to see a doctor at all, case closed.

He looked down at his clothing for a moment, he wasn’t naked, so he wouldn’t need to try to slip on clothes when he lost control of his apposable thumbs. He was still wearing his shirt from earlier, so he wasn’t going around without a shirt on, again. With that said and decided he quietly got out of his bed, paying mind to the lose floorboards he knew creaked. He didn’t always sneak out to parties, but when he did he made a point not to get caught.

Deciding to leave through the bathroom window was a no go because of his useless arm, so he’d have to settle with going through the from door. Not as cool as he had hoped, but it was better than falling out a window and waiting until someone found him in the morning.

Making his way down the hallway of the dark house, he placed his hand against the cool metal of the doorhandle, and opened it. The sticky humid night hit him like a wet smack to the face, it wasnt even a nice kid of humid because of the breeze that brought a nip of a chill in.

Grumbling to himself he lightly closed the door behind him, and used the dim lights around him to find his was to the clinic. He didn't have anything against Harvey, he didn’t seem like a conventional doctor, well at least for the house visit. Then again as soon as he saw the other male he did his best to leave the vicinity as quickly as possible, he just didn’t like doctors. 

One quick peek in the front window of the clinic showed him that it was dark, great, Harvey would still be asleep then. Harvey didn’t lock the clinic doors Incase there was an emergency, so Alex simply turned the handle and walked in. Making sure he didn’t slam the door shut either, he didn’t want anyone to catch him. This was embarrassing enough without getting caught.

Exhaling a soft sigh of relief, he looked down at his arm, having it cradled against his chest as best as he could. His shoulder was killing him, but he was more concerned about not being able to control his hand. Even as his concern grew he shoved it away, he was not going to get it checked, he was fine. 

“Alright, sling, sling’s gotta be somewhere.” Alex mutter to himself, walking down the hallway and into the closest examination room. He tried to get his eyes to adjust to the darker room, he didn’t want to turn on a light and have everyone question why a light on the clinic was on. Well, everyone that was awake at one in the morning.

He began his search in what he thought looked like a cabinet or dresser, sliding the drawer open he started to feel around for something that at least felt like a sling. Trying not to knock anything around too loudly.

He paused for a moment to grab his shoulder and let out a shaky sigh, it really was starting to hurt. It was like a hot iron was being slowly driven through his shoulder with every beat of his heart, it hurt before, but he was really starting to feel it now. Muttering to himself he gave his shoulder a gentle rub before going back to searching, maybe he should take some pain meds too-

“Alex?” A groggy voice asked as the lights slipped on, Alex froze, maybe if he stood absolutely still whoever it was wouldn’t see him and leave. “Alex what are you doing here, it’s-“ there a pause and the sound of a sleeve being pushed up, “-Alex it’s one twenty in the morning, what are you doing here?”

Alex closed his eyes, damn, that really sounded like Harvey. Slowly, he closed the drawer and stood up to face Harvey, he was only slightly annoyed the doctor was taller than him. He didn’t have time to think about it as a small tight ball formed in his stomach, he was caught, now he has to admit why he was, and get a checkup. He wanted to say something snarky, maybe even sarcastic, but he couldn’t force his lips to open or even make a sound.

He forced himself to look at Harvey, he liked eye contact usually, it showed he wasn’t no little bïtch. But right now he really felt like one, well, maybe more like a little kid? Harvey’s expression didn’t help that, he seemed concerned of all things, concerned! Alex basically waltzed in And was trying to steal a sling, and Harvey looked concerned for him! Not even a little angry!

“Alex?” Harvey asked again, this time to grogginess had cleared from his throat and he walked closer to Alex. Alex swallowed thickly, Harvey was in a robe with what appeared to be sweatpants and maybe an old T-shirt underneath. Great, he somehow woke up the doctor.

Finally Alex managed to crack a weak smile, “Hey doc, how's it going?” He asked, using his left hand to rub the back of his neck, leaving his right arm dangling limply at his side. “Sorry about the intrusion, I-“ He paused what was he supposed to say? ‘I hurt my arm and need a sling but I didn’t want to ask you for one?’ Yeah that didn’t sound suspicious at all, “-I got restless?” He almost cringed at how unsure it sounded.

Harvey didn’t look like he bought it for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed together as he moved closer to Alex still. “What happened to your arm?” He asked reaching out and grabbing Alex’s arm.

Alex turned his head away and prepared for the pain, maybe a jerking motion, something that would hurt him even more. Instead he felt a soft and delicate touch on his forearm, Alex never really noticed how big Harvey’s hands were. He forced himself to look back, his breath left him for a moment when he noticed how-how close Harvey got, almost pressing their chests up against each other. 

His eyes were attentive and searching as his soft touch moved around his arm, as if looking for an answer. Alex felt his mouth fall open for a moment, he wasn’t really sure about what. “I-I-“ he closed his mouth before he said something stupid.

Harvey made a humming noise in the back of his throat, “Looks like you dislocated it,” he said turning his head to look at Alex, watching as Alex made eye contact once before turning his head away. “Feeling a little bashful? That’s okay, you’re not the only one, come here.” He said slowly setting Alex’s down so it didn’t jerk, he placed a hand on the small of the athletes back guiding him towards the examination table.

Alex decided it would be best to keep his mouth shut and cooperate, at least this time, at least while Harvey planned on being gentle. He looked at the examination table and swallowed thickly, but he didn’t fight as Harvey helped him up onto it. “I’m fine Doc really,” he tried, “I’ll just sling it and we can both be on our way.”

Harvey shot Alex a rather parental look, and Alex turned his head away again. “How long has this hurt?” He asked, gently feeling around the shoulder, watching Alex for reactions as he did so. 

Alex cleared his throat lightly, trying to think of a good way to explain he went through the whole day with what was apparently a dislocated shoulder. “Don’t yell,” he said slowly, as if that would help, “But, it might’ve, just might’ve been ignoring it for twelve hours, give or take a few hours.” He looked back in time to see Harvey frown, he turned his head away again, expecting some yelling to happen. 

Instead there was a heavy sigh, “Alex, you must’ve known that something was wrong.” Harvey said, sounding disappointed, and really, after that he would’ve preferred to hear Harvey yelling. Alex didn’t expect to hear the doctor sound so, sad. Harvey’s hands stopped, “Look at me Alex, I know you’re no stranger to eye contact.” 

Alex closed his eyes and fought back a shaky sigh, slowly, ever so slowly he looked back at Harvey, looking into the doctor's brown eyes. “What’s up doc?” He said, trying, and failing at being nonchalant about the whole ordeal. He wasn’t supposed to be locking down like this! This was stupid! 

Harvey looked into Alex’s eyes in turn, they were thoughtful but tired, saying nothing he broke contact and gently tugged at Alex’s shirt. “We’re going to need to take this off, I’ll help, but you’re going to need to work with me. Understand?” He asked looking back to Alex, almost as if he was asking permission. 

It took Alex a moment to realize he was nodding, “Uh, yeah, sure.” He said using his good arm, he reached down and pulled the hem of his shirt up above his head. He paused, and soon enough he felt Harvey take over, pulling it off his good arm, over his head, and finally gently taking it off his bum arm. Alex had to look away from the angry purple that covered his shoulder.

Harvey sighed again, shaking his head “Alex,” another sigh as he let the name hang in the air for a moment as he looked Alex’s shoulder over. Alex, on the other hand, felt exposed. Here he was, in a doctors office, shirtless- he couldn’t even get the stupid shirt off by himself!

“Alright, Alex, this is going to hurt,” Harvey said slowly pulling his arm away from his shoulder, Alex gritted his teeth as the pain flared down his arm. “But putting it back in hurts even more, so I want you to count down from three for me, so I know you’re ready.” He said.

Alex looked at Harvey, and nodded. “Three? Y-yeah I can do that, Alright.” He said looking at a poster on the wall, “Thre-“ before he could even get the whole number out there was a pop followed by intense pain that hit him like a ton of bricks. He lurched forward unintentionally with a cry of pain, and probably would’ve fell to the ground unceremoniously if Harvey hadn’t caught him and helped him steady himself. 

“There we go, all better.” Harvey said soothingly, no doubt he’s done this kind of thing more than once. Alex shook his head and rolled his shoulder, he looked at his right hand and flexed it. He could fix it now, at least there was that.

“I thought we were waiting till I counted down!” Alex snapped. But even then it didn’t have a lot of venom, he was just happy the pain had started to die down now. Harvey chuckled gently at that, patting Alex’s good shoulder.

“If you came in when you hurt it, I’m sure I would’ve been more patient than at-“ he pushed his robe sleeve up and looked at his watch, “-at one thirty in the morning.” He said opening up a cabinet and taking out a roll of gaze, a tube, and a pill bottle. Placing them down next to Alex, “Now then, why don’t you tell me how you go it?” He said, looking up at Alex (they were at eye level now at least, and Alex would take it) with a gently amused smile. 

Alex laughed lightly, slowly using his right hand to rub the back of his neck. “Tried to catch a grindball, fell into the river, it wasn’t as deep as I was hoping.” He said, watching curiously as Harvey crouched down to grab a water bottle. “Uh, that was it, right? No more of-“ he made some hand gestures that were supposed to mean relocating his shoulder, “-of whatever that was?” 

“As long as you don’t pop it out again, you should be fine.” Harvey said opening the pill bottle and shaking two little orange pills out, screwing the lid back onto the bottle he held the pills out in one hand and the water bottle with the other. “Here, this should help with the pain until it fades completely.” He said 

Alex nodded and took the offered items from Harvey, “Yeah Thanks,” He said, popping the pills in a swallowing them dry, waiting a moment then cracking the water open and taking a few sips, the knot in his stomach had eased a bit, but it lingered still. And Alex didn’t want to puke all over Harvey because of nerves.

While Alex was taking his medicine, Harvey moved behind him and started to rub some kind of ointment on the bruise, Alex could feel the tables padding lower behind him slightly,chances were Harvey hitched a knee onto the table, or at least he hoped that was all it was. “Hey, uh, sorry,” He said eventually, “For everything, coming in here at this hour, not coming in when I was actually hurt, and being a little bïtch when I did get checked out.” 

Harvey paused for a moment, before he continued to rub the ointment over the bruise, just a carefully and delicately as before. “Now I accept the apology for the first two reasons, you have your reasons for doing both.” He said in a warm and soothing tone, “But for how you reacted when you got here that’s normal, relocating a shoulder socket is a painful thing. Even Kent did what you did.” He said 

Alex’s mouth fell open, he turned his head so he was looking over his shoulder at Harvey. “You’re shitting me, Kent? Sam's dad? The hardcore hoorah marine?” He asked incredulously, “There’s no way in hell.” He said.

Harvey laughed and looked back up to Alex, “Sorry to burst your bubble, but he was actually louder.” He said shaking his head lightly with a chuckle, “He got into a lot of fights, eventually started to just bite down on his belt to keep himself from screaming when he came in. I would’ve offered one to you if I was wearing one.” 

Alex tensed slightly at the mention of it, but it faded quickly, it was brief, almost unconscious. He laughed lightly, “I don’t think I would’ve taken it, me and belts don’t exactly have a, good, relationship.” He said, making a soft yelp when he felt Harvey wrapping his arm.

“Oh?” Harvey said, as if wanting to keep Alex talking, but he didn’t move his gaze from his work, “Mind If I pry? I won’t tell a soul, doctor-patient confidentiality won’t let me.” He assured, although he had a good idea about what he meant by that. 

Alex sighed, “Fine, but only because I have nothing else to do.” That, and, well Harvey certainly wasn’t like any other doctor he had ever talked to before, that he and his mustache radiated this kind of trusting nature? Hell, What did Alex know? This was a way to talk about something and he might as well take it, no one else was going to listen to him blabber about this. 

He cleared his throat lightly, “I, uh, well I suppose you can see the scars.” He started, “My dad was an ass, verbally abusive and all that fun stuff, deep in the bottle too. And usually I keep it at that, I don’t like to talk about-“ he gestured to his back, “-that. Sometimes, just sometimes, he’d be so deep in the bottle he would take his belt off and just- beat me. Usually it was just with the leather part, it hurt like hell and bruised but it would eventually go away, but a couple times he used the buckle part, and that wrecked me. Tore the skin up, blood everywhere-“ he closed his eyes and shuttered lightly, “Yeah, So that’s that I guess. And it’s not like the word belt make me uncomfortable or anything like that, or I pass out at the sight of it. But, just being around one makes the skin on my back crawl, and if someone takes on off I can almost feel the bile in my throat.” He shook is head a have a shake laugh, “Probably nothing though,” He said looking down at the floor, closing his eyes.

Alex was going to leave it at that until he felt a gentle but firm touch on his chin, lifting his head until he was looking into Harvey’s eyes. When had he moved? All well, he wouldn’t dwell on it. “Alex,” He said gently, his face carried a look of concern, and almost pity, but it wasn’t quite that. “Alex, I’m sorry I never asked about them sooner, I didn’t know that-“

“It’s fine Doc,” Alex cut in, gently moving Harvey’s hand away from his face, he didn’t want Harvey to gush all over him, he didn’t want pity just for it. It was the past, he couldn’t change it. “Really, I’m grateful you even fixed me up after I broke in and tried to steal a sling. So let’s call it even at that, yeah?” 

Harvey looked Alex’s face over, but gave a nod of understanding, “Yeah, Alright.” He said, “Well, do you think I could give you a hug at least?” He asked, Alex raised an eyebrow, “Humor me.” 

Alex rolled his eyes, “Fine princess, if it will make you feel better.” He said opening his arms up for a hug, he noticed how Harvey’s cheeks gained a dusting of pink at the nickname and tucked that information away as something he could use later. Or something.

Harvey wrapped his arms around Alex, under his arms so he didn’t disturb the bruise, and gently pulled the shorter male against him. Alex froze for a second, before returning the gesture, it was his turn to have a soft dusting of pink on his cheeks, only, it wasn’t so light.

Alex had hugged others before, but it wasn’t often that he hugged anyone bigger than himself. He never noticed how, well, large Harvey was until this point. How large and firm his arms were, his chest was almost like a brick wall, it was smooth and dense even through the robe. Alex was fit himself, buff even, but he wasn’t this dense, not in the slightest.

The hug lasted for what felt like years, Harvey’s warmth almost lulled Alex to sleep right then and there, but all too soon Harvey pulled away with a bashful smile. “Sorry, you looked a little down.” He said, taking a step back, “Come back in a few days so I can check on that bruise, until then, my door is always open, not just in a proverbial way.”

Alex felt a lump in his throat, but he nodded, “Yeah, I mean whoo look at the time! I’m going to go get some sleep bye Harvey!” He said jumping off of the examination table and all but running out of the clinic, his heartbeat loud and consuming his head. As soon as he exited the building back into the humid summer air he took a deep breath, closing the door behind him. Walking a back to his house,he leaned against the wall and tilted his head back to touch the wall. 

The knot that had once unraveled itself with Harvey’s gentle touch and soothing words was not back full force, even without the male there to trigger it. All Alex could think about was that hug, how warm and safe it was, how, nice that felt.

He rubbed his face, What was wrong with him? He shouldn’t be thinking like this, it wasn’t like he had a- 

Oh

Oh

Oh no

Alex couldn’t believe himself, he couldn’t believe he had a boy crush on HARVEY. A doctor of all things! All it took was a night and he was head over heels for him??? That was sad, it really was. Alex shook his head as if to trying to clear the gay thoughts from his head, not that it would work. “Oh man. Oh man.” He ran a hand through his hair.

He wouldn’t say it out loud, amidst his panic and all that, but deep down, he liked it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks if you made it this far.  
> Caoi baby.


End file.
